Law Council calls for expanded oversight by Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security and Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security

06/05/2021

At today’s Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security’s (PJCIS) public hearing into the Intelligence Oversight and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity Measures) Bill 2020, the Law Council of Australia offered its broad support for the measures contained in the Bill.

In their opening statement the Law Council, represented by Chair of the Constitutional Law Committee and Member of the National Criminal Law Committee, Mr Bret Walker AO SC, noted the Bill will only partially implement recommendations made in the 2017 Independent Intelligence Review (IIR) with respect to the oversight of the National Intelligence Community.

The Law Council recommends that the PJCIS accept the recommendation from the IIR in full regarding expanding the oversight functions of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security and the PJCIS to cover all 10 Commonwealth agencies which collectively comprise the National Intelligence Community.

The full Law Council media release is available here.